NFL

Everything about the Super Bowl is big – the athletes, the media coverage, the prices for hotels. It’s also a big opportunity to help the environment by using as little energy as possible. The NFL and MetLife Stadium in New Jersey have seized the opportunity by making this the greenest Super Bowl ever.

And EPA has been involved from the very beginning. While the stadium was being built, EPA signed a memorandum of understanding with the stadium’s owner outlining a plan to build and operate the new stadium as a green building.

The Super Bowl wouldn’t be the Super Bowl without food, and the NFL and MetLife Stadium are making sure that leftover food doesn’t go to waste. The NFL plans to donate unused food to local soup kitchens, shelters and churches, which will feed the hungry while keeping food waste from being shipped to landfills and incinerators.

While playing linebacker in the NFL for 12 years, I am proud to say I achieved much success during my career. But maybe my greatest accomplishment is just being on the field with asthma. There was a time when asthma would have been considered too great an obstacle to overcome to achieve pro football status. By being proactive and working with my physician to identify my asthma triggers, I was able to show that asthma does not have to be a setback in life.

I am one of approximately 25 million people across the U.S. who has asthma. People often ask me what it was like to play in the NFL with asthma, and my response is I don’t know what it was like to play in the NFL WITHOUT asthma. Asthma is a part of me and I’m pleased to be able to use my voice to show that asthma can be overcome.

During the last few years, I have been proud to partner with EPA to promote the message that asthma does not have to limit what you can achieve in your life. The Asthma Team at the Chris Draft Family Foundation, works to promote asthma awareness and education across the country.

These days, I am tackling asthma off the field. I continue to charge on in my campaign to raise awareness and help others triumph over asthma. During Asthma Awareness Month, I hope to inspire others by showing them how I achieved my success in controlling asthma. I can summarize it in a very simple statement: “Asthma can’t stop me, so don’t let it stop you.”

About the author: A former NFL linebacker, Chris Draft is also the Founder, President, and CEO of the Chris Draft Family Foundation (CDFF), a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering families to live healthy lifestyles. Draft is a nationally recognized community leader and health advocate who serves as an NFL Ambassador, National Ambassador for the Parent Teacher Association, and a national spokesperson on many health-related issues, including the care and treatment of asthma, from which he suffers, and lung cancer, the disease that claimed the life of his wife, Keasha, late last year.

A leader both on and off the field, Draft has received a number of awards and honors for his tireless work in the community. Learn more about his accomplishments.